Robert G Naranjo

Santa Clara Pueblo

Robert G. Naranjo (1943-) was born to Juan and Mollie M. Naranjo at the IHS hospital in Dulce, NM. Juan was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 37 years and a lot of that time was spent in Dulce. When he retired, the family returned home to Santa Clara.

Robert enlisted in the Army right out of high school, then he enlisted for a second four-year term. When he finally got out he kicked around in a number of different jobs for a few years until he finally got tired of changing truck chains in the mud. That's when his mother and his aunt (Julia Martinez) started teaching him to make pottery. Within a few years he was selling beside his aunt at the Santa Fe Indian Market. A few years later he began earning a long string of awards from Santa Fe Indian Market, the Eiteljorg Museum, the Heard Museum and others.